The new improvements have radically increased the museum's accessibility. Photo Hawick Museum

Work completed at Hawick Museum in the Scottish Borders has opened up sections of the building that have been behind the scenes for more than 20 years.

As well as installing a new lift allowing access to less mobile visitors to the Scott Art Gallery, the largest section of the museum, the improvements have enabled the creation of new display spaces.

Shona Sinclair, museum curator, said: “It is fantastic that visitors that are unable to use the stairs can now visit the Scott Gallery and it seems fitting that access has been improved in its widest sense with the new display areas allowing us to show more items from the original museum collection that are normally kept in storage due to lack of display space."

How the museum looked in the 1930s. Photo Hawick Museum

Partition walls were removed which will now allow visitors to get to areas which have been blocked off for decades.

The refurbished venue will now boast the Founders’ Room, dedicated to the origins of the museum, a wildlife display and a new study console area, where inquirers and volunteers will be able to carry out research.

The latest improvements are the second part of a scheme started in 2004 which has already seen provision of ramped access to the museum’s ground floor plus disabled parking and toilet facilities.